Fact Finding Guidelines

About

The International Human Rights Fact-Finding Guidelines (The Lund-London Guidelines) were produced by the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in 2009. The Guidelines were launched at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law Conference on 1 June 2009, London.

The Lund-London Guidelines are based on widespread consultation over several years. The Guidelines were revised in 2015. They arose out of concern that, despite there being no agreed international standards for human rights fact-finding reporting, such reports are frequently referred to by courts, tribunals, governments, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders.

‘These Guidelines should become best practice standards for all relevant human rights fact-finding missions.’

Prof Robert McCorquodaleBritish Institute of International and Comparative Law

The Lund-London Guidelines aim to fill this gap by setting an international standard of good practice in the conduct of fact-finding visits and in the compilation of fact-finding reports.

The Guidelines are a useful tool for NGOs and all individuals and organisations engaged in human rights fact-finding and reporting, providing guidelines for ensuring accuracy, objectivity, transparency and credibility to fact-finding visits and reports.

Download

The Guidelines are currently available to download in English, Arabic, French, Russian and Spanish.

How the guidelines were developed

A background paper on the history and development of the Guidelines is available to download here.

Contact

For further information on the International Human Rights Fact-Finding Guidelines, contact Phillip Tahmindjis, IBAHRI Director: Phillip.tahmindjis@int-bar.org.

IBAHRI fact-finding

International fact-finding is one of the IBAHRI's core activities. Since 1995, the IBAHRI has undertaken over 45 fact-finding missions to countries such as: Brazil, Egypt, Georgia, Malawi, Myanmar, Venezuela and Syria. For more information on the IBAHRI's fact-finding activities and reports, click here.